Today I cycled all the way downtown from my home in
Brentwood. Not really a super long ride, but probably the longest
I've taken in quite some time. I cycled to the University, stopping at the bank on the way to pay the power
bill that had been forgotten during my exams several weeks
before. I've never had a good eye for color, but even I could see that
my green RAD pants just didn't go with the forest green of my new
cycling jacket. It was very ugly, but I wore it out anyway. While I
was on campus I though I had better stop off and pay my late fees at
the library. I knew I had two dollars in finds, so I wasn't expecting
it to be five. I must have had those other three books on Go out for
an extra day.
After that I cycled past Foothills Hospital and down a hill and
eventually across Memorial drive, and then I got on the bike paths and
took that all the way down to Prince's Island Park. I did not know
that there is a pedestrian bridge underneath the bridge that carries
Crowchild over the Bow; now I do.
The day was sweet, and a little to warm to be wearing the jacket. I
could smell the trees and grass, and I was amazed by the beauty of the
city, both to the eyes and to the nose. It's not like one might expect
when one drives in from the south and you can see the smog hanging
over the city like a shroud. I feel as if I sort of under-appreciate the
city I live and work and learn in.
By the time I got to the paths, I was already getting saddle
sore. I had already lasted a lot longer than I would have been able to
if I had only had pants on; the bike shorts under the RAD pants really
helped. That's the first time I've ever worn bike shorts; I'm getting
prepared to cycle to work and save myself the transit fare. I need the
exercise anyway. I've fallen into the scrawny nerd boy
stereotype.
I haven't been to Prince's Island in a very long time; a year or
two at least. When I was last there I saw a Shakespeare in the Park
play, but I can't remember which one. I gawked at all the buildings
and new condos and the construction like a common tourist, as if I
haven't seen them all a thousand times before. It's always interesting
to read the a tourist's perspective on your home city; you sort of see
things through their eyes that you've seen so many times that you've
forgotten what it means, or its just always been there and you never
thought about it in the first place. I read the part in Travels with
Samantha, where Phillip is in Calgary, and
found it interesting. We Calgarians love our +15 system. It gets us
between buildings in bad weather and gives us a semi public place to
hold pancake breakfasts during Stampede week.
I was able to make it right to my building, then I went back to the
park for a bit, and then cycled my tired ass home. And that was
basically my DDO (designated day off).